As she practiced mounting her horse at a run, 15-year-old Alva Lopez fell hard, but jumped back up and into the saddle.

"Falling is part of riding," she said. "You lose the fear after a while."

Alva is the only female member of a modern charro association in Salinas that prides itself on its focus on family and traditional Mexican culture.

The usually male-dominated groups specialize in Mexican-style horsemanship.

Alva has been riding horses since she was 6 months old. She shares the passion for horsemanship with her father, Lazaro Lopez, who instilled in her cultural and traditional values of the art of charreria passed on to him by his parents and grandparents in Jalisco, Mexico.

Charreria is similar to American rodeo, but with additional events that focus on the art and style of Mexican horsemanship. Intricate roping, daring stunts and festive banda music come together for a show that couples entertainment with historic riding skills.

Alongside her dad, Alva trains horses for races and local parades, such as the Fourth of July Watsonville parade, the Gonzales parade and the California Rodeo Salinas parades. Alva has attended rodeos her entire life.

The association she belongs to, Herencia Mexicana, or Mexican Heritage, is an important part of the lives of its 22 members and their families.

"The name of this association says it all," Alva said. "It's about keeping the Mexican tradition of charreria alive and maintaining the Mexican pride."

The charro association is made up of dedicated individuals whose love for horses and charreria has created a group of comrades that find any excuse to gather together for a fiesta at any of the members' ranches.

"Charreria celebrates an equestrian tradition whose roots are in 16th-century Spain but which developed into a unique form of horsemanship [in the United States]," according to Kathleen Mullen Sands, the author of the book "Charreria Mexicana."

Charreada, the performance of competitive equestrian events within the charreria tradition, was brought north by Mexican immigrants.

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Since the 1970s, the popular tradition in Mexico has become an important cultural symbol for people of Mexican descent in the United States, Mullen Sands wrote in "Charreria Mexicana."

Alva traded the glamour of high heels for her cowgirl boots to ride horses during her quinceañera, or 15th birthday fiesta. She and her chambelanes, or court of young men, rode horses during the traditional Mexican waltz in an arena.

"We need to encourage more teenagers to join," Alva said of the association.

On a recent Wednesday night, about half of the members and their families gathered at founder Robbie Gonzalez's ranch in Prunedale for a pizza and beverage get-together. The group shared videos and photos from their horsemanship performance at the Fourth of July parade in Watsonville.

Among the families were the Gomezes from Salinas. Lucrecia Gomez complained about her husband's passion for horses.

"My husband [Adan Gomez] gets impatient when I'm getting ready [to go out], but when he washes his horse he takes his time," Gomez said in Spanish with a chuckle. "When we're getting ready to go somewhere, he says, 'hurry and go upstairs to get ready. If you don't hurry up I'm leaving without you.'"

"The horse is like a family member," said Nalli Gomez, 19, one of the couple's children.

Adan Gomez's black horse is a mixture of Andaluz and Friscian breeds from Jalisco, Mexico. The horse, called Distinguido, is a trained dancing horse.

For the holiday parade, the group traded their Mexican charro outfits for American cowboy attire — an American cowboy shirt, jeans, cowboy buckle, hat and boots. The members were atop dancing horses marching to the beat of Mexican banda music.

The group exploded in laughter when they watched a video that showed two horses colliding nose-to-nose as they simultaneously performed a pivotal inward spin during the parade.

A typical horseman's day

Robbie Gonzalez founded the local association in 2009 because he saw a need for a charro group that was family-oriented. Most of the charro associations he knew about were more about drinking parties than about family, he said.

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Gonzalez starts his day at 5:30 a.m. to feed his horses, wash them and clean their stalls. It takes him about an hour and a half to complete his daily routine.

When Gonzalez gets back from a day's work at Palma School in Salinas, he saddles his horses to take them riding.

"It's hard work but I love it," Gonzalez said. "A horse is like a kid."

His comrade, Adan Gomez, takes a break from his business, Gomez Auto Repair Inc. in Salinas, to spend time with his horses.

At the gathering, Gomez braided his black horse's mane after a stressful day at work. Gomez said a horse's mane has to be brushed to keep its hair healthy.

"I never braided my daughter's hair when she was little but I do braid my horse's mane," Gomez said, laughing.

"My dad comes into my room in the morning and says, 'Let's go feed Pinta, about 8:30 a.m.," said Alva about her mare. "We come back home at about 10 a.m. and eat and do chores. At about 4 p.m. we go ride horses and train them at a ranch behind the Sheriff's Posse Grounds."

Lazaro Lopez, her father, is a talented horse trainer who breaks horses and who tamed the association's only bull, Dollar, who is included in all the parades.

Lopez said he was inspired to train Dollar because when he was young in Sauceda, Jalisco, an older man trained a Zebu bull to participate in the town's fiestas and jaripeos, or Mexican rodeos.

"You can educate and train any animal," Lopez said. "All you need is patience."

Lopez said he's proud of his daughters for following the charro tradition.

"I'm satisfied knowing that my daughters are into horses instead of going out to the street and finding other things to do," Lopez said.

Charro as a Mexican symbol

To members of the Herencia Mexicana, a charro is a symbol of bravery, freedom, tradition and culture.

As Gomez rode on the arena of the Gonzalez ranch, he stood on the back of his horse and spun a rope in intricate patterns. His horse remained absolutely still as Gomez dropped to his saddle.

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When performing publicly, Gomez and other members of the association wear a traditional charro outfit: a short jacket and matching tight pants adorned with embroidered silver finery, a wide sombrero, a shawl-like sarape and a bandolier.

"The military horseman and the ranch rider merged into one in the 19th century with the emergence of the chinaco, the ranchero-soldier who rose to prominence in the 1810 War for Mexican Independence," according to the New Mexico Office of the State Historian website.

The chinaco, or charro, used a rope as an offensive weapon to rope enemy soldiers during the fight for Mexico's independence from Spain between 1810 and 1821.

They became a symbol of a free Mexico when the country gained its independence on Aug. 24, 1821.

Mexican Revolution military heroes such as Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata, who fought against the 1913-14 Victoriano Huerta dictatorship, are also representative of Mexican charros.

Charreada vs. rodeo

The charro is to Mexico what a rodeo cowboy is to the United States, said Robbie Gonzalez.

According to "Charreria Mexicana," a charreada is different from an American rodeo when it comes to style. Intricate roping demonstrations and pivoting spins on horseback are key to the charreada but absent in American rodeo.

Additional charreada events include leaping from a galloping horse to a wild mare — dangerous under any circumstance.

Lazaro Lopez still has scars on one of his arms from bull riding in Mexico and falling off a horse when he was an adolescent.

Gonzalez broke four ribs two years ago while riding a horse in a rodeo parade.

"I was injured for a while but look at me now, I'm still here," Gonzalez, 59, said as he stood atop his horse, R-quince. "I enjoy this. I've always loved charreria and horses."

Where the tradition of charreada and American rodeo intersect is in bronc riding, bull riding and team roping.

Gomez said a legitimate charro has to master nine events scored in charreadas. These events include reining competition, bull riding, team bull riding, wild mare riding and leaping onto and riding a wild mare.

Charreadas are held on Sundays when charro teams test their horsemanship and roping skills in front of judges. There are official and unofficial competitions. All competitors are required to dress in their charro attire.

"Most of us master a few of the scored events, but for a modern-day charro it's more about maintaining the tradition," Gomez said. "The love for horses runs in my blood. I've been riding horses since I was a kid and now my kids and even my wife are involved in my passion."